We are back…..and I am slowly matriculating into this non vacay life. I so want to share all of our stories.

I want to start with the Wilderness Lodge. I will say I have been to Disney a couple of times and have this small bucket list of things I’d like to do there. One of them is staying at all the hotels. To give you some background I have stayed at all of the All Stars, Port Orleans-French Quarter, Animal Kingdom Lodge , Old Key West, and Wilderness Lodge. My heart just keeps coming back to Wilderness….so let’s take a look.

Wilderness Lodge is nestled in the Magic Kingdom section of the park-what does that mean? You literally have to drive through the Magic Kingdom park sign to get to it oh and it means your bus ride to that park is basically three minutes. The moment you drive in you immediately forget you’re in “Disney” and feel like you’re somewhere in the National Parks with trees and oh yes deer-real deer. The entire resort is built to look like a log cabin-be still my heart.

Check out the lobby…feels like home

This is our second visit to Wilderness Lodge-our first with Row and Grandma. We had a room overlooking the pool and courtyard area-not too shabby. Oh and at night when Magic Kingdom had fireworks we could see the tops of them from our balcony.

Rooms are decorated in a lodge feel-Disney always goes all out on a theme-which is why I love them.

There’s an amazing little spring and bridge in the lobby. This spring runs into the outside, over a small waterfall and ends in the large pool.

Why I love Wilderness and feel like I should stay every time?

The pool-it’s beautiful, don’t like tons of kids? Don’t worry there’s a smaller pool in the villas area that is salt water and has small bubblers. Have tiny kids-they have you covered too with an amazing mini splash/water park area. Two slides-and yes I went down the slide with Row.

The geyser-it erupts every hour and is well-it’s just cool.

The ferry-you can take a leisurely ferry to and from Magic Kingdom straight to the lodge.

The lake-you can sit there at night and watch the Bay Lake water show-oh and they have s’mores making opportunities there as well.

Rentals-you can rent bikes and bike all over the lodge property.

Whispering Canyon Cafe-I’ll go more in depth on this one later-but it’s amazing-book 180 days out because many guests from other resorts love this one and often times you can’t walk in-trust me.

Wilderness Lodge is considered a Deluxe hotel in the Disney pricing tier of resorts. This means you’re going to pay more. What do you get? You get a smaller resort and less distance between you and the food, pool, and bus. You get buses that come and go to the parks more often and your chance of having to wait for another bus because this one was full or stand are much lower-I’ve never had to do this at Wilderness Lodge. You have a lobby that your door opens out to as opposed to one you have to walk to-this element adds to the whole experience.

Wilderness Lodge is my home at Disney and I would literally stay there every single time….darn bucket list.

We made it! We survived and entire week in WDW with a toddler and I have so much to share. This year we decided to attend the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom and partake in all the fun. I learned a ton since this was my first time and from going with a toddler.

Here are the tips I wish I had known…..

Dress Up -it makes it so much more fun. The key is low key. Yes there are some people who just go all out and let me tell you it’s amazing. I prefer Disney bounding-what is that you say? Dressing in regular clothes that look similar to the clothes of famous Disney Characters. We went as Snow White and dwarves, Row’s dress was a simple cotton dress in snow white colors-no fluff and the grownups wore shirts with felt belts sewn on and hats-easy. Plus it is way easier to move around and ride rides.

Shows-There are three-the Boo To You Parade, Hocus Pocus Show, and Hallowishes. Hallowishes only plays once and I recommend being around the general vicinity of the front of the castle since much of the show is projected on the castle itself. The parade runs twice and the show runs four times-plenty of time to catch them.

Seating-The parade has characters up close so if you have a toddler who doesn’t enjoy that-I won’t mention any names-pick a place where you can move back if you need to and people and places aren’t as crowded-such as the front of the train station-learn from my mistakes!!!!

Do trick or treat-so many people think it’s a waste of time but the littles love it. They hand out candy at designated areas throughout the park. They also provide a trick or treat bag but I would bring at least one large bag because you will get a ton of candy and yes it’s the good stuff.

Treats-get yourself a Halloween cupcake or candy corn cotton candy (sold only in the back of the park) sigh I forgot! These are special only for the event.

Characters-pick one or two to get pictures with. They do not mention which characters are present but we saw Jane and Tarzan and Abu and Aladdin. Characters are a big part of the party and they have mega rare ones out to meet and greet. The lines are long though but the pic is priceless.

Pictures-get a picture in front of the castle at night-it’s purple. They also have special signs you can hold that say Halloween party.

Look Up-Many cool decorations are put out just for the party-check out the pumpkins on top of buildings.

Relax-get done what you can and don’t stress-snag a party map right when you walk in, step to the side and decide what’s your top two things to do. The rest is icing.